Earth-Romulan War
The Earth-Romulan War, also known as the Romulan War, Romulan Wars, Earth-Romulus War, was a major interstellar conflict fought during the mid-22nd century (2155-2160) between forces led by United Earth and those of the Romulan Star Empire. The two sides knew little of each other before the war, and little after the war. Based on the limited state of knowledge that still existed in as late as 2266, the war was summarized as: "Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous; and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth." History Origins The Romulan War's origins lay in the program of covert expansionism adopted by the Romulan Star Empire in the mid-22nd Century. Throughout that century, the Empire had adopted a program of unlimited territorial expansion and conquest so widely accepted that when then-Senator Valdore i'Kaleh tr'Ihaimehn sought to publicly question it, he was expelled from the Senate and faced execution before fellow Senator and old friend Vrax intervened with the First Consul to have the Praetor spare Valdore's life. By the 2150s, the Empire sought to expand into the area of the known galaxy that later came to constitute the core systems of the United Federation of Planets. They began a program of covert infiltration of the government of the Confederacy of Vulcan, with V'Las, the Administrator of the Vulcan High Command becoming one of their agents. (ENT episode: "Kir'Shara") In 2151, Administrator V'Las was able to force the dismissal of the sitting First Minister out of office subsequent to the P'Jem scandal and seized power, putting Vulcan firmly under the control of the High Command -- and, therefore, of the Romulan Star Empire. The Romulans and V'Las sought to instigate a war between the Confederacy of Vulcan and its longstanding enemy, the Andorian Empire, in 2154. The V'Las government forged evidence that the Andorians were developing a weapon of mass destruction based upon stolen Xindi technology to justify a preemptive invasion of Andoria, and sought to discredit the pacifist Syrrannite sect by bombing the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan and framing the Syrannites. Unfortunately for V'Las and the Romulans, an investigation by United Earth Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander T'Pol led to the discovery of evidence exonerating the Syrannites and of the ancient preserved writings of Surak (the founder of cthia) and to the decision of then-Vulcan Ambassador to United Earth Soval to reveal the forged WMD evidence to the Andorians. As a result, the Vulcan fleet faced a resistant Andorian Imperial Guard, with the Andorran fleet assisted by the starship Enterprise (NX-01), and V'Las was overthrown in a coup led by Minister Kuvak and Syrranite leader T'Pau and assisted by Archer and T'Pol. Prelude On July 22, 2155, Romulan telecaptured Klingon ships destroyed and tried to remotely hijack Vulcan ships near Alpha Centauri. A similar act was taken in the Gamma Hydra sector with three telecaptured D5 class Klingon ships attempting to remotely hijack the Earth starship Enterprise NX-01 and destroy the SS Kobayashi Maru. There would also be a Romulan invasion force sent to Calder II to take the planet and establish a beachhead. (ENT novels: Kobayashi Maru, Beneath the Raptor's Wing) July 26, 2155 - Enterprise NX-01 rescues about 50 badly injured and irradiated human colonists from Romulan attack on Tarod IX. (ENT novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing) On Stardate 1/0101.01 during the Century Day celebrations on Luna and other colonies, news was received that ended the event which stated that 3 heavy cruisers were attacked and presumed lost to an unknown enemy. A single destroyer attached to the fleet had, however, survived and reported of a sneak attack by vessels painted with a giant winged creature. The unknown enemy were responsible for performing suicide runs with fusion explosive missiles. Intercepted subspace radio transmissions from the battle were later translated and revealed that their enemy had a name; Romulan and also gave an indicated on the first bearings of Romulan held space. etween Stardate 1/0101 to 1/0601, there were several more skirmishes between the Romulans and their opponents which led to Starfleet beginning to gain some idea on how to deal with Romulan hit-and-run tactics. On Stardate 1/0522.07, two Romulan vessels were crippled by a Starfleet strike force who began boarding actions. The Romulan commanders waited until the ships maneuvered close enough for grappling and boarding action to commence after which the Romulans initiated their self destruct taking out the Starfleet ships with them as they exploded. After this chain of events, Starfleet issued orders that prohibited any vessel from approaching even a badly damaged Romulan vessel. In 2156, a Romulan ship attacked the United Earth starship Columbia NX-02 in deep space. In the course of the attack, the Romulan ship was destroyed, and Columbia severely damaged and was not able to contact Earth to warn of the Romulan attack. The Columbia's commander to set course for the planet Erigol, using the time dilation effect of very high impulse speeds to get there in a few years, without the ship's warp engines functioning. As a result the Columbia missed the Romulan War, which began shortly after this attack on ship. The Columbia's ultimate fate would not be discovered for more than two centuries. On May 18, 2156, a Romulan fleet consisting of five ships attacked Starbase 1 in the Algeron system, destroying the base and two NX class starships assigned there, Columbia and Excalibur. While Admiral Gardner immediately wanted to declare war, Starfleet Command felt differently and asked for his resignation. They replaced him with Admiral Rafael Douglas and sent a message to the Romulans, demanding an explanation for the attack. This message further convinced the Romulans of Earth's weakness. On October 14, 2156, the USS Patton was attacked and destroyed by Romulan forces in the Eta Leonis system. This incident signaled the beginning of hostilities between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire. Upon the declaration of war, United Earth formally allied with a number of other states to create the Earth Alliance. The War Nathan Samuels finally and officially declared Earth to be in a state of war with the Romulans on June 1, 2156. On June 20, 2156, The Atlantis (NX-05) was destroyed over Tau Ceti IV by the Romulans. The Endeavour (NX-06) successfully defended Altair IV from the Romulans. On July 22, 2156, Captain Archer pleaded with Klingon Chancellor M'Rek on Qo'noS to enter the war against Romulus. The Klingons officially refused to assist Earth. On Stardate 1/0811, a Starfleet group stumbled upon a major Romulan base which dealt the enemy its first true defeat when 30 Romulan war vessels that were manned only by skeleton crews during a resupply operation were destroyed in orbit before they could fire a single shot. Six Starfleet vessels were lost in the engagement when the planetary base destroyed itself after its shields had been damaged seriously. The loss of the fleet was a crippling blow to the Romulans who never recovered fully from its effects. Battle of Sol The Romulans intended to move on the Sol system and win in a sweeping victory. As a staging ground, they chose Denobula, which was officially neutral in the war and, the Romulans estimated, would not be expecting an attack. On October 1, 2158, the Romulans arrived and killed the crew of a Denobulan orbital station before firing on the planet. As they expected, the Denobulans offered no resistance. The Romulans used the Denobulan facilities to prepare their vessels for battle. From there, they launched their attack on the Sol system with three targets: First the Verteron Array on Mars, then the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards also on Mars, then Earth itself. They came out of warp very close to the Verteron Array, quickly destroying it. They then fired on the shipyards, unaware that all six warp-5 ships being constructed there had been evacuated during the occupation of Denobula. A second Verteron Array had been hidden within the atmosphere of Venus, which now opened fire on the Romulans, destroying two of their ships. The fleet hid behind Mars, where a Starfleet battalion lead by Bryce Shumar aboard the Intrepid came out of warp and engaged them. Six of the ten Romulan ships were destroyed before Mindar ordered a retreat. The Romulans came very close to taking Earth. However, the threat of invasion made Earth and its allies even more determined to defeat the Romulans and they began to slowly push them back into Romulan territory. Later Battles Three years into the war, a Romulan ship many years into its journey detected the Heisenberg, and boarded it, hoping to gain its warp drive and reverse engineer it back on Romulus. They were stopped by Tobin Dax and Skon, who had been testing a new transporter. This encounter led to later hosts of Dax (such as Jadzia Dax) being suspicious of Romulans. During 2159 the Romulans allied themselves with the Vulcan T'Uerell who "went missing", prompting the United Earth Starfleet to send Enterprise to investigate and Coto to respond to her general distress call. These ships destroyed their Romulan counterparts and escorted T'Urell to her outpost. Among the casualties during the course of the war were several members of the Stiles family, including Julia, Richard, Jake, and at least one Captain Stiles. Two important battles were at Galorndon Core and the Battle of Vorkado. Battle of Cheron The Battle of Cheron is generally considered the decisive battle in the Earth-Romulan War. Both sides recognized the major victory achieved here by the Earth Alliance as a humiliating defeat of the Romulan military. This event would establish long-term political effects within the Romulan Empire lasting well into the 24th century. While Earth and its allies claimed victory at Cheron, the Earth-Romulus War ultimately led to a bloody and bitter stalemate after almost five years, with which neither side able claim victory or willing to concede defeat. Ultimately, however, the alliances forged by United Earth led to the establishment of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. In 2266, Spock categorized the weaponry generally used in the Earth-Romulan War as atomic in nature, and fairly primitive at that. He also characterized the ships in use as primitive, and designed in ways that did not permit quarter or captives. Romulan starships were painted to resemble a "bird of prey", a tradition kept through the mid-23rd century. Ship-to-ship visual communication between Earth-allied ships and Romulan-allied ships did not take place during the war or during the peace negotiations. As a result, until the 2266 altercation between USS Enterprise and ChR Gal Gath'thong, the Federation had no idea what the Romulans looked like Post-War Peace According to some reports, the war ended inconclusively due to staggering losses sustained by both sides. By Stardate 1/0909, neither side was capable of supplying adequately or even maintain their fleets in the war zone. Starfleet was also not capable of mounting a strong enough fleet to penetrate Romulan space an reach the supposed location of the Romulan home world. This led to Senior Councilman Abraham Dannon attempting to convince his colleagues of offering a peace to the Romulans; a solution that passed by a 1-vote margin. Following the Battle of Cheron, the two sides negotiated a treaty via subspace radio. Among other things, it established the Neutral Zone, a no-man's land between the Earth Alliance and the Romulan Star Empire, entry into which by either side would constitute an act of war. United Earth set up at least eight outpost stations on asteroids along its side of the Neutral Zone to monitor Romulan activity, and these outposts remained active into the 2260s. Additional outposts were later added for a total of 43 by the 24th century. Subsequent to the founding of the Federation, the UFP and RSE signed the Federation/Rihannha Non-Aggression Pact, which ensured that planets belonging to either one of these parties would not be orbited by craft from the other party. Legacy From a 23rd century Human perspective, the Neutral Zone represented an area "between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy..." Some Humans still harbored resentment over the war after over a century of peace, including Lieutenant Stiles of the USS Enterprise. Despite these human attitudes, until 2266 the Neutral Zone served its purpose and the treaty had remained unbroken. In fact, one might say it served its purpose too well, as there were limited or no contacts between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire from the conclusion of the war until the mid-23rd century. (TOS episode: "Balance of Terror") Although the Earth-Romulan War was devastating for its combatants, it paled in comparison to the later Dominion War. List of Battles * 2155 ** Battle of Alpha Centauri ** Battle of Calder II ** Kobayashi MAru Incident ** Battle of Tarod IX ** First Battle of Deneva ** First Battle of Berengaria ** Skirmish near Threllvia IV ** First Battle of Altair VI * 2156 ** Battle of Andoria ** Second Battle of Berengaria ** Battle of Algeron ** Second Battle of Altair VI ** Battle of Tau Ceti IV ** Second Battl of Deneva * 2157 ** Battle of Gamma Hydra ** Battle of Prantares * 2159 ** Third Battle of Altair VI ** Battle of Vorkado ** Third Battle of Deneva * 2160 ** Battle of Sol ** Battle of Cheron